Shadows loneliness
by BlackShadowFlames
Summary: Shadow is sick of seeing every other guy with a girl except him, so everyone starts trying to help him, which makes him even madder. Then Knuckles goes funny and Rouge decides to join in. Pairings change a lot. Chapter 7 is up!
1. Guns

Sonic couples are: Sonic and Amy, Knuckles and Rouge, Tails and Cream and Blaze and Silver. I do not own Sonic, Sega does.

Everyone is at the beach on a day out, and so is Shadow, who is rather jealous…

_Sonic and Amy_

Amy laughed as Sonic pulled her into the sea with him. Ever since he had learnt to swim, she couldn't keep him away from the water.

"Sonic stop!" she smiled, as he tried to pull her further in. Laughing, she pulled away and waded back to shore.

Sonic followed her, also laughing. Together, they collapsed side by side on a massive towel on loan from Cream's mother.

"This is nice" said Sonic, gazing at Amy lovingly. She held his gaze steadily, and as one, they leaned closer together and closed their eyes.

They were just about to kiss when they heard footsteps approaching along the sand. Hastily, they sprang apart, just as Shadow walked around the corner.

_Shadow (This only works in 1__st__ person)_

Oh great. Is it me or is EVERYONE in a couple. I've already walked in on Cream and Tails. Only they were too busy to notice me. They need to get a room. Oh, and I saw Knuckles talking to Rouge, which means that poor Knux will be dragged off somewhere with her in no time. Talking is all the invitation Rouge needs to be convinced that a guy likes her. Then there's Silver and Blaze, who have actually got people calling them "Silvaze". It makes me wish I had a girlfriend. Maybe I should talk to Sonic about it. He always gets the girl.

"Shadow, are you OK?" Sonic said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Err yeah, I'm fine. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Sonic looked at Amy and back at me again. "Yeah, sure. I'll be back in a sec Ames."

Ames! Good grief. He didn't even know she existed till three weeks ago!

Sonic and I walked a little way from Amy before he said, "So what is it Shad?"

"I need your help."

OK, here goes…

"Sonic, how come the ultimate life form can't get a girl?" Wait, what did I just say? That came out wrong.

Sonic looked at me awkwardly.

"What?" I said.

Sonic was still looking at me oddly.

"What??" This was worrying.

"Well, it's the guns."

Oh. The guns. I will kill Jet.

_Flashback_

In high school, I shared a room with Jet, Sonic and Silver. Sonic, Silver and I came back a bit drunk one night, and I thought it would be funny to start playing with my guns, giving them names and generally pratting around. Jet filmed it all on his phone and sent it to everyone he knew. He knows a lot of people. Eventually, everyone at school thought that Shadow the Hedgehog called his guns Doris, Gertrude and Bertha. Great.

_End of Flashback_

I though that people would have forgotten about that by now.

_Please comment/ review._

_This is my first fanfic so go easy on me._

_If I get some good reviews I might write another chapter._

_Thanx. _


	2. Video

Thank you to sonellen and SnuggleRose for reviewing my last chapter. This one is for you. I do not own anything except the plot.

_Sonic_

Well. That was weird. After I said about the guns, Shad went all far away and then glared at me before running off. It's not my fault that he can't get a girl. Everyone else is happy, except him. I think its time me and Amy tried to help him.

Still in thought, I walked back to Amy, who was watching me anxiously. "What did Shadow want?" she asked.

"He wanted to know why he can't get a girl." I said, and I could feel a grin spreading across my face.

Amy looked at me. "Hmm. And you said?"

"The guns." That was all I had to say for Amy to start laughing. Gossip spread very easily at our old school.

After she had stopped, I said, "I think we need to help him. He seems so lonely."

Amy frowned. "But who would want to go out with Shadow? No offence, but he's not exactly the dating type is he?"

It was my turn to laugh now. I lay back down on the towel with Amy and she snuggled up to me. "I'm sure we can think of something," I whispered, as I kissed her on the forehead gently.

_Shadow_

Great. Just great. Basically, faker said that Jet is the causer of all my problems.

"Yeah, all one of them", a voice in my head whispered. "You don't need a girl. You're the Ultimate Lifeform for goodness sake! Pull yourself together!"

That voice was irritating. It carried on talking to me, and after a while, I realised that it was Silver using his new power. Recently, he had worked out how to communicate with other hedgehogs and talk to them in their heads. It was really annoying, especially since I couldn't tall him to shut up.

I walked towards where I had seen Silver last, and the voice in my head grew stronger.

_Silver_

Blaze was laughing with me. I was using my power on Shadow and I could tell it was driving him crazy. As it became easier to communicate, I knew he was getting closer to us, so I stopped and tried to put on a straight face. Blaze did the same thing.

Sure enough, after a minute or two, an angry looking Shadow stomped round the corner and glared at us. If looks could kill, we'd be dead on the floor now.

"Will you quit that?" Shadow said to me angrily, "and who are you to tell me that I don't need a girl?" Maybe I want one. Maybe I want a girlfriend to be able to be close to. Maybe I want to be like you and Blaze, and have someone care about me!"

I looked at him like he was crazy. Then in his head I said "Do you?"

_Shadow_

I just stood there mutinously, unable to speak. I was so shocked at what I had just said. I really needed to stop blurting these things out. That was the second time today. I heard a rustling sound from the bush behind Silver and Blaze. Then Sonic out from behind it, holding something small and silver. He was smiling at me. Uh-oh.

As he was talking quietly to Silver and Blaze so I couldn't hear him, I realised what he was holding. It was a video camera.

"You did not." Was all I said to him.

He looked at me with the air of someone being reasonable. "Shadow, you asked me why you never get the girl. All I have to do is put this on the net and girls will come flooding in for you!"

Then he ran off. Damn. That puts him on my hit list along with Jet. If this carries on the whole world will be dead by next Tuesday.

_Amy_

"Did you get it Sonic?" I asked, as he sped up to me breathlessly.

"Yeah!" he smiled, "and it's better than we expected."

He played the footage of Shadow to me, and I couldn't help but feel rather sorry for him. It wasn't his fault actually, with the guns. If it was anyone's, it was Sonics. He said that it would be cool for all the hedgehogs to go out that night. Although Jet filmed it.

"Sonic," I said, "Do you really think we should do this? I mean, if he doesn't want us to, then do you think we should interfere with his life?"

Sonic looked thoughtful. "Hmm, maybe you're right Ames."

Then I had the best idea ever. One word," Rouge."

_So how was that? _

_Sorry if it's a bit rambling, but it's the best I could do. _

_Shadouge round the corner?_

_Please review and any suggestions are appreciated._

_Thanx_


	3. Plans

_Thank you to Alyssacookie for reviewing. As always, I do not own Sonic or anyone else. Only the plot. Review please! _

_Rouge_

"Knuckles, what is wrong with you?" I said haughtily, standing in front of the annoyed echidna.

"Rouge, how many times do I have to tell you, I don't like you in that way!" Knuckles retorted angrily. "For goodness sake, all I did was ask you if you wanted an ice cream!"

I frowned. Come to think of it, he did. Struggling, I tried to think of a comeback.

"Yeah Knuckles, but it was the way you said it," I said, knowing I was on thin ice here.

I saw him get ready to turn and leave, so I just said "please?"

"Rouge," he said, with a voice of forced calm, "I don't like you in that way. Try Shadow."

Then he just walked away from me, leaving me slightly stunned. How could a guy walk away from me after saying he didn't like me? Maybe I needed a personality check. And what was that about Shadow? What has he got to do with Shadow? I didn't even think they knew each other. Come to think of it… Shadow.

I smiled.

_Cream_

"Tails, do you know why Mister Shadow is always so depressed?"

Tails looked at me. "I don't know, maybe he's never found love."

"Or he's found it but then he lost it again." I said.

I didn't know what I would do without Tails now I had found him. I guessed I would be depressed as well.

"It must be awful for him, seeing all of us here together, and him just being on his own," I continued sadly. "Maybe we could help him out."

Tails smiled. "Cream, how would we do that?" he said, looking down into my worried face.

I thought about this carefully. How _could_ we do that?

"I don't know" I said truthfully.

We sat in silence for a while, looking out towards the sea. Then I had an idea.

"Wait, maybe Sonic could think of something!" I said.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Tails said to me. "Maybe he and Amy have already thought of something."

"Shall we go and talk to them now? Maybe we could help them. I think I saw them near that small alcove on the other beach." I said excitedly, already standing up.

Tails laughed and began to get up too. "Ok, ok, we'll go talk to the loved up Sonamy!"

Together, we began to walk down the beach towards the alcove, laughing and joking about

_Shadow_

They're going to talk to Sonic and Amy about me getting a girl! And what did that fox say, he thought that they may have already come up with something. Err, newsflash, Sonic filmed me getting all emotional and is probably at this second uploading it onto You Tube. Pathetic kitsune.

God I need to shoot something.

_Amy_

"Hey Rouge!" I said to the depressed looking bat. "I guess that Knucklehead doesn't want you like that does he?"

Rouge glared at me, and said sarcastically, "how did you know?"

She was sat in the ice cream parlour at a table on her own. She had let her ice cream melt into mush and she was stirring it with her spoon vigorously.

I sat down next to her and said, "hey Rouge, do you fancy coming shopping with me this afternoon? Just you and me?"

Rouge's ears pricked up at this. I knew she couldn't resist shopping.

"How about two o'clock outside the jewellery shop?"  
Rouge smiled and nodded. "That would be great," she said. "Thank you Amy."

I got up from the table and said, "See you then."

Then I walked out and headed back towards the alcove, having no intention of going to the shop.

_Sonic_

I found Shadow sat by himself, sheltered by a sand dune in a small alcove. Hesitantly, I walked up to him. He didn't raise his head when he heard me.

"Hi Shadow," I said cautiously. "I decided I wouldn't put the video on the net."

Shadow looked up and glared at me. This was going to be hard.

"I'm sorry for trying to interfere with your life. It was wrong of me."

Shadow was still glaring at me, though not as intensely now. "You think so faker?"

Why is he so stubborn?

"Anyway Shadow, I wanted to make it up to you. Maybe we could go to the shoe shop together and see if we could get your hover shoes repaired. I'll pay."

He still looked suspicious. Who wouldn't?

Then, to my surprise, he smiled. "Ok," he said. "What time?"

"I could meet outside the shop at two o'clock if you want?"

He nodded at me and said, "fine by me."

As I walked away, I thought, score!

_Please review. _

_I'll put up another chapter in a bit if I get some._

_Thanx_


	4. Takeoff

Thanks for reviewing! Sorry this took so long; I was busy writing "I am changed." So enjoy. As ever, I do not own Sonic or any of the characters, though I wish I did.

_Rouge_

As soon as Amy left the shop I paid for my melted ice-cream, though it hardly seemed worth it, and I flew back home as fast as I could. I changed into my favourite heart top and black jeans with knee-length white boots, ran a brush through my hair and applied some make up.

I was ready in record time and I flew to the jewellery shop to find that I was five minutes early. I sat down on a nearby bench to wait for Amy, and to my surprise I was soon joined by Shadow.

"Hey," he said, looking surprised. "I didn't expect to see you here Rouge."

"Same thing right back at ya!" I said, with only a hint of flirtiness. I had been thinking through what Knuckles had said to me before he walked off, and decided that Shadow wasn't that bad.

"Who are you waiting for then?" he asked. "Wait, don't tell me, Amy."

I laughed. "Is it that obvious?"

He laughed too. "Not really. It's just that Sonic said he'd meet me at the shoe shop to get my shoes fixed, and he'd never leave Amy on her own. So I figured she was coming here with you. I mean, Cream is busy with Tails and Blaze is with Silver. That leaves you."

I sighed. "Well, I'm on my own now. Knuckles dumped me before it even started."

Shadow looked at me oddly, and said something that sounded like, "I wouldn't do that."

I decided to ignore that comment, and turned my attention to the crowds of people who were heading to the shops. After a quick scan, I could see that Amy was not among them.

Risking a quick glance at Shadow, who looked a bit red, I could see that he was doing the same thing.

"I don't see Sonic anywhere. Do you think he and Amy have set us up?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "No, I don't think Amy would do that, not when she knows about the whole Knuckles thing."

"It's possible. They could have planned the whole thing. I mean, what are the odds. Amy asks you to meet her at the jewellery shop at exactly two o'clock, and at the same time Sonic asks me to meet him in the shoe shop, which is right next to the jewellery shop, at two o'-"

"Two o'clock!" I interrupted him. "Amy knows about me and Knuckles, and Sonic knows about your- err- worries." I trailed off.

We looked at each other for a long time. I didn't know why. It just felt nice.

After a while, Shadow broke the stare and stood up. I mirrored him.

"Well," said Shadow, "if Sonic and Amy really have gone to all this trouble, then I think it would be wrong to disappoint them."

Thoughts were chasing each other around my brain. Is he going to ask me out?

Shadow turned to me, and I treated him to one of my flirtatious smiles. He seemed to take this as encouragement, as he took a deep breath and said. "Rouge, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

_Shadow_

Yes! I've finally done it. I've gone and asked out a girl. And Rouge, of all girls!

I looked at her trying to gauge her reaction. She looked slightly stunned, but happy at the same time. Then she smiled.

"Of course Shadow!"

She closed the gap between us and gave me a hug. It felt nice. As we walked off down to the beach talking and laughing, she suddenly stood on tip-toe and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

_Amy_

"Oh Sonic, it worked! Shadouge has taken off!" I said excitedly as we watched Shadow and Rouge walk off together. "That's so romantic!"

Sonic looked at me and smiled, then he picked me up and ran down to the beach with me in his arms. He ran straight into the sea with me, and then let me go.

"Hey!" I shouted as I fell into the water. "What was that for?"

He was about to reply when a shout came from the beach. I turned to see Knuckles motioning for us to come over to him. That was one echidna I really didn't want to see after he was so mean to Rouge. I looked at Sonic, who seemed apprehensive to say the least.

"Go on." I said to him when he looked at me for reassurance. He sighed, gave me a quick kiss and swam rapidly to shore. I followed slower, so by the time I had reached the beach, Sonic and Knuckles were already talking. From the look on Sonic's face, the news wasn't good.

Knuckles saw me approaching, said one more thing to Sonic, and took off. Sonic turned around to me, and I saw that his face had gone pale.

"Sonic, what is it?"

He just sat down and stared out to sea.

"Sonic, what's happened. Tell me!"

He looked at me again, and just said, "Knuckles loves Rouge."

I sat down.

Ah.

_Review please! Hope you enjoyed it._

_ShadowSilverSonic_


	5. Complications

_Knuckles_

I managed to get away from Amy before she could hit me with her hammer. She looked really annoyed as she walked up to Sonic and me. Sonic went a bit weird as well. He turned white when I said I loved Rouge. If he likes her and was thinking about going for her, then he has another thing coming. Come to think about it, they were both acting weird at the same time, as though they knew something I didn't.

Thoughts were chasing around my brain as I walked along the beach staring at the sand. Moodily, I kicked at a rock that had been washed up by the tide and contemplated Rouge's reaction if I were to tell her that I loved her. She would probably hug me and smile, and say that it was alright that I hadn't liked her before. But you never know with girls.

I was just thinking this when I saw someone else walking towards me. I sped up, thinking it was Rouge, and then slowed again when I saw that it was just another red echidna. She looked just like me, only she had beads in her hair and lots of bracelets on her arms. We could have been twins. She smiled at me as I passed, and despite my love for Rouge, I felt my heart begin to speed up. I was instantly annoyed with myself. Angrily, I carried on walking down the beach, focusing my thoughts on Rouge, and steering them well clear of the other echidna. I saw Silver and Blaze in the distance, and went over to talk to them.

_Blaze_

"So what you're saying, Knuckles, is that Rouge showed that she liked you and you wouldn't give her a chance. Now, all of a sudden, you like her? What is wrong with you?"

Silver and I were stood in front of Knuckles, who had come over to us a few minutes earlier. He had related the whole story to us, and I was definitely on Rouge's side.

Knuckles sighed, and said, "Yeah, pretty much. Although I love her, not just like her."

I looked at Silver for support, but his eyes were closed and he looked like he was concentrating hard. I wondered what he was doing.

Knuckles was still talking, and with Silver out of the picture for the time being, I figured it was up to me to do the replying.

"I assume that Rouge doesn't know about this then?" I said to Knuckles, interrupting some sort of speech he was giving. He stopped and looked shifty.

"Well, no, not really. I mean, I don't know if she would actually want me now, seeing as I shunned her earlier. I don't know, and I won't know until I try."

"Well, if you want to find Rouge, then you could ask Sonic to go and look for her. He could cover this entire beach in no time- if you asked him nicely." Silver had apparently come out of his trance.

Knuckled looked confused. "Sonic isn't here."

Silver sighed. "Don't worry; he will be in a minute." I suddenly understood. Silver had been using his power to get Sonic over here.

Right on cue, Sonic stepped warily from behind the sand dunes, followed by Amy.

Silver smiled. "What took you so long?"

Sonic looked shifty and turned to Knuckles. "Hey," he said apprehensively. "What's up Knux?"

Knuckles huffed. "Never call me that. I want you to find Rouge for me." He looked slightly worried too. That was unusual for Knuckles.

"I suppose you know all about this then Sonic," I said to him.

"Yeah," he said weakly. "And more. Silver, Blaze, can I talk to you for a sec please?"

Knuckles was fuming at this point. He had been looking uneasy since Sonic and Amy had arrived, but now he looked ready to hit something. He just opened his mouth to say something when Tails and Cream walked around the corner. Knuckles snapped.

"Oh God, not you too! Go on and all have a mothers meeting! If anyone needs me, I'll be in the ice-cream parlour." He stormed off quickly, leaving everyone looking shocked. Poor Cream began to cry.

"W-w-wha-at di-id I do?" she said through her sniffles. Tails put an arm around her.

"Nothing Cream. He was just being Knuckles," he said to her. He turned to the rest of us. "What on earth is going on here?" he asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," I said dryly.

_Sonic_

As Blaze said this I felt a slight tug on my arm. I turned to see Amy looking up at me.

"I'm going to go after Knuckles," she said. "He needs to be let down gently, and he's less likely to hit me because I'm on my own, and he knows I'll hit him back twice as hard. You tell the others."

Before I could stop her, she ran up the sand dune after Knuckles, leaving me to the mercy of Silvaze and Crails, all wanting to know what was going on. Silver and Blaze knew about Knuckles loving Rouge but not about Shadouge, and Cream and Tails didn't know anything. Eventually, after lots of interruptions, everyone finally knew everything.

We all started to think what we could do, but after a few minutes we had all drawn up blank. Then, as I started to lose hope, the most unlikely voice spoke up.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Cream said. Everyone looked at her. "We need to keep Ms Rouge and Mr Shadow away from Mr Knuckles, and at the same time we need to find another girl for Mr Knuckles."

It was so simple that only little Cream could have thought of it.

"Brilliant!" I said, and then paused. "Wait, Amy has gone to tell Knuckles about Shadouge! We can't let her do that!" without another word I ran off towards the ice-cream parlour.

_Knuckles_

I hate my life.

_There you have it. Chapter 5,_

_Please review_

_Xoxox_


	6. Echidna

_So hi. I'm alive after having dropped off the end of the planet! I know its ages since I've updated, so try not to kill me!__ I'll try and make this chapter a bit longer, 'cos the other ones always look so small! __ I don't own the characters, only the plot. Enjoy!_

_Tikal_

There is something… familiar about that echidna. He looks like me, but without the bracelets and beads. It's obvious he's male. I feel like I know him, but that's not possible… He looked like something was troubling him though. I don't know, maybe I ought to look for him. Or am I being too forward? I mean, he looked a bit happier when I smiled at him earlier on the beach, but maybe that was my imagination. I am being too hopeful. I need to forget about him. Yes, forget all about him. Easier said than done.

I walked slowly along the beach, lost in thought, until I found myself in the centre of town, near all the usual beachside shops swarming with crowds. I didn't know why I ended up there; I don't even like shopping! It's far too expensive. I meant to turn round and walk back to my secluded part of the beach and think some more, when a flash caught my eye. A red flash that is.

_Knuckles_

Why. Why? Why! Why does everyone have to go around with knowing expressions, whispering to each other instead of saying it out loud like normal people? I don't know a thing about what is going on. Why? Because no-one will tell me! I wonder if Rouge knows. Ah, Rouge. I hope she'll accept me even though I turned her down. I don't know what I'd do if she didn't let me be with her.

"A double mint choc chip ice-cream please," I said as politely as I could to the girl behind the counter.

"Would you like sauce with that sir?" she replied, smiling.

"No thanks," I said. I gritted my teeth. Part of my brain was wondering why I was going through the trivial nuisance of ice-cream toppings while I could be out finding Rouge. The other part had died a long time ago.

"Flake or chocolate sprinkles?"

"No thank you." Rawr.

"A Smartie perhaps? It's free!" The girl managed to look happy while I glowered at her.

"No. I do not wish to have a Smartie. I would like my ice-cream with no toppings, in a cone, to go, now."

"Would you like a strawberry on top of that?"

Some people just can't take a hint, I thought as I slammed the door behind me. I really need to find out who's in charge so they can do more checks on the people they hire!

_Amy_

I felt a bit bad leaving Sonic to explain everything to the rest of them, but I thought it would be better for Knuckles if he heard it from me. If he saw Shadouge out together, either he or Shadow would probably go to hospital by the time they were done. By the time I reached the ice-cream parlour, I was out of breath from having run most of the way. As I stopped to get my breath back so I could actually talk, I saw an angry Knuckles storm out of the door, slamming it behind him and breaking two of the windows.

Clever Knuckles, I thought. And you wonder why you're short of rings when you're done paying off breakage charges. Knuckles seemed to be heading down to the beach again, and I was about to follow when I heard a rustle behind me. Turning round, what I saw surprised me to say the least.

A red echidna was crouched awkwardly behind a bush and was obviously looking at the retreating back of Knuckles. It was a girl, judging by the beads in her hair and all the bangles up her arm. She didn't seem to have seen me yet though. I didn't want to surprise her, so I went down to the beach after Knuckles and sat on a wall where I had a view of both the echidnas.

Things were about to get interesting.

_Sonic_

"Amy!" I shouted as I ran up to her. I paused, looking around me. There was Knux, walking down the beach, and there seemed to be another red thing crouches in some bushes a little way away. "Amy, you didn't tell him did you? About Shadouge?"

"No," she replied, to my relief. "But it looks like Knuckles has got himself a stalker! Or maybe just a deluded fangirl looking for an autograph."

I looked at the bush again. The red thing had stepped out from behind it and revealed itself as a female echidna.

"But that's perfect!" and I filled her in on the plan that Cream had put forward.

"So you want Knux and this new echidna to hook up and distract him from Shadouge?" Amy said when I'd finished.

"Basically, yes."

"Well, she looks like she's about to make a move now!"

Amy was right. The female echidna had walked past us while we were talking and was following Knuckles down the beach, away from most of the people there.

Suddenly, I had a thought.

"Amy, do you know where Shadow and Rouge have gone?"

Amy looked worried. "Err, well I know they went to the beach over there," she pointed away from us and the echidnas," but that was a while ago and they could be anywhere now. Why don't you run around and find them and I'll stay here and see how this turns out?"

It was a good idea. "Right. We have to make sure they don't see each other. Give me a call if they move anywhere you think they might clash." I gave her a hug and ran off, trying to find Shadow and Rouge.

_Tikal_

I'm only going to talk to him. Ask him his name. Maybe where he lives. It's not like I'm going to ask him to marry me! Why am I so nervous? Ok, calm down. If I'm that freaked then I can just turn round and go away. Oh no, he's seen me! I have no choice now.

I put on a smile and looked him straight in the eye.

"Hi, I'm Tikal. What's your name?"

There's no going back now, I thought.

_There you have it, Chapter 6. Hope it was alright._

_Review please! No flames. _


	7. Development

Finally time to update this story I think, it's been so long. If anyone is still reading this story, from now on I'm going to try and make the chapters a bit longer

_Knuckles_

At the sound of a voice, I turned round and was surprised to see the other echidna from earlier standing in front of me, blushing.

"Hi, I'm Tikal. What's your name?" she asked politely.

I was a bit taken aback by her forwardness, it reminded me of Rouge, but I smiled at her and replied,

"Hey there, you can call me Knuckles, nice meeting you."

She giggled a bit and looked at the floor. "Knuckles, that's a nice name." If possible she seemed to get more embarrassed. It was kind of cute actually. Wait, what? No, I love Rouge. Rouge is the one for me! Though I suppose that doesn't mean I can't hang around with other girls, I mean Rouge doesn't know yet… Wait, I shouldn't be thinking like that! Argh!

"Do you come here often?" Tikal asked, looking at me with wide innocent blue eyes, almost the same colour as the ocean, I happened to notice.

"Um." I appeared to have lost the power of speech due to my excessive thinking. "Neyh, sometimes, y'know, um, yeah." I replied, mentally kicking myself for sounding like a retard. What was wrong with me today? "Do you walk?" I asked her.

She raised an eyebrow before laughing. "Of course I do! Does that mean, 'do you want to walk with me'?"

I mentally facepalmed before saying, "Something like that. You want to walk with me for a while?" I gestured to the beach in front of us, stretching out for a couple of miles at least.

Tikal twirled one of her beads around her finger before nodding and grabbing my hand. My automatic reaction was to pull away, but it actually felt nice, so I let her walk by my side and promised myself to keep an eye out for Rouge.

"So, are you here with anyone?" the echidna asked me casually after we had been walking for a while.

"Just a few friends. Amy Rose planned the whole outing as a chance for us to get away from our daily lives of saving the world and whatnot, there are quite a few of us here actually, though I'm not sure where they've all disappeared to." To be honest, I didn't really care where most of them had gone. They were probably all busy leaving me out and gossiping about me. No change there then.

"Amy Rose? As in Amy Rose the Hedgehog?" Tikal stopped dead and looked at me.

I nodded. "Pink hedgehog, goes out with Sonic, often seen with a giant hammer." I described, quite accurately in my opinion.

Tikal's jaw dropped. "She goes out with Sonic? Oh wow I didn't know that! That's great news!" She seemed ecstatic about it.

"Um, do you know Amy then?"

"Yeah, we're quite good friends, but we've not talked in ages! Ah, I'm really happy for her, I must remember to say hi before I leave."  
"We can go and find them now if you like," I offered, although the last thing I wanted to do was to talk to my friends after my earlier outburst.

The smaller echidna smiled up at me before nodding in agreement and setting off back to the more crowded part of the beach. I followed her, not that I had a choice.

"Hey, Tikal, slow down! We're here for the rest of the day! I think Amy might be near the ice cream parlour, I reckon I saw her there a while ago."  
"Ok, let's go!" Tikal replied enthusiastically, grabbing my hand again and setting off. I laughed and followed her, all thoughts of Rouge put out of my mind for now.

_Sonic_

I was running up and down the beach searching for the elusive Shadouge. So far, I hadn't got anywhere, but there was still only a small chance that they would encounter the echidna's further down the beach. Coming to a stop at one end of the beach, I paused and looked around: still no sign. I had been to the same place three times now, yep, there was that crab staring at me again, and still no luck. I was about to go back up towards the tourist end when my cell rang. Checking the call ID, I saw it was Amy.

"Hey Ames, what is it?"

"Sonic?" Amy's voice filled my ear. "Have you found them yet?"

Sighing, I said "No, annoyingly, they seem to have disappeared off the edge of the planet never to be seen again. I've been across this damned beach four times now and nothing. I have no idea where they could be."

I heard Amy let out a sigh. "Well Knuckles and his little echidna fangirl headed off together a while ago down the beach near the shops, but I've lost sight of them and I don't know what's going on."

I sat on a nearby rock and rubbed my eyes. This whole matchmaker thing seemed a lot more trouble than it was worth, maybe I should have just put the video of Shadow on the internet, it would have saved me more running than necessary.

"Well I'm stuck then, I'll carry on looking I sup-"

But I was cut off by a gasp at the other end of the cell.

"Tikal?" I could hear the shock in Amy's voice as she said the name, then: "Sonic, I gotta go, keep looking, ok?" Then the line went dead.  
Well that was odd…

I began to set off back towards the ice cream parlour where I left Amy to check everything was alright.

_Blaze_

"So basically, you want us to keep Knuckles away from Shadow and Rouge otherwise all hell will break loose and there will be trouble?" Tails asked me and Silver.

"Basically, yes. Everything's happening so fast that Knuckles won't have had time to adjust, first from Rouge asking him out to him thinking he likes Rouge after rejecting her, and now to whatever the hell is going on at this moment." Silver explained. "He's so small-minded that he can only process one thing at a time." He added dryly.

"Hey, it's my job to do the burning around here!" I teased, as Tails let out a small laugh.

We were all gathered around a table in the ice cream parlour near the back where we had a pretty decent view of the beach and the square outside. Cream was happily eating a chocolate chip ice cream and Tails had opted for a fruit lolly. Surprisingly, Silver had chosen rum and raisin, and I didn't have one as I had a tendency to accidentally melt them. We had decided to remain in here as backup as we were pretty central if we were needed in the Great Matchmaking Plan.

"I get the feeling that you don't like Knuckles much, Silver," the kitsune asked shyly after Silver had finished laughing.

Silver just shrugged. "The feeling's mutual. I don't mind him but we're not exactly close. Besides, I don't know what he really sees in Rouge. She's got nothing on Blaze here." He put an arm around my shoulders and fed me a spoonful of his ice cream. I smiled. I was lucky to have Silver by my side, I really did like him.

"You two do make a really nice couple, if you don't mind me saying," Cream piped up shyly. She blushed a bit as both me and Silver turned to look at her.

"Haha, glad you think so," I said. "He drives me mad when he uses his telekinesis in a morning to get me out of bed but I love him." It was my turn to blush now, normally I was a lot more reserved about my private life.

Silver turned in his seat and gave me a massive hug before whispering, "That's the first time you've ever said that about me, and you're going to have to explain that later." My face heated up again. I had been telling the truth.

I was about to reply when I noticed that Tails was staring at the entrance to the shop. I followed the direction of his stare and found myself looking at two echidnas and Amy. I did a double take and realised one of them was indeed Knuckles. This couldn't be good.

Xxx

There we go, that wasn't too painful! Sorry if my writing style has changed a lot or the characters are OOC (I know they are!), it's a long time since I wrote this story. Thank you for reading!


	8. Friends

_Rouge_

Shadow really was nice. Once you got past that cold Ultimate Life Form front he really was a big softie. We left the shops and busy crowds behind in favour of the wide open spaces of the beach. We didn't say much, just walked along in comfortable silence, happy to be together alone for a while. All thoughts of Knuckles were out of my head for the time being, so it took me by surprise when Shadow mentioned it.

'What do you see in Knuckles anyway, Rouge?' he asked. 'I mean, the guy's a bit of a jerk and he seems a little bit up himself.'

I slowed my pace and looked up at him. 'I dunno… There was something about him that made me like him. I think it's gone though. Why do you ask?' I smiled. Who would want Knuckles when you could have Shadow?

Shadow shrugged. 'I'm not sure, I probably just think too much.'

The silence that followed was a little awkward. Then I understood.

'Shadow, are you… Jealous?' He blushed. Blushed! Who'd have thought it?

'N-no…' he stammered. 'I just want to get things straight in my head.' He shrugged again. 'Come on, let's see if we can make it to that rock over there without getting ambushed by our friends.' And he was off, using his speed to the best of his advantage. I laughed, spread my wings and followed him.

_Knuckles_

Wonderful. They were all there staring at me and my… What was she? Friend? Girlfriend? Random echidna who attached herself to me? Whoever she was everyone was going to assume we were together as soon as they saw us. I sighed as I detached myself from Tikal who was talking animatedly to Amy and walked over to the table where four of my friends were sat.

'Hey,' I said. Well this was awkward. I could see the unwritten questions on their faces but after my outburst earlier I doubted any of them were going to ask them.

Blaze nodded at me and looked pointedly at Tikal, who was still stood by the door with Amy.

I looked down at my feet. 'Um, that's Tikal. We just met on the beach and uh…' I didn't seem to know what to say.

'Mhmm,' Silver murmured. Then he shut his eyes and seemed to go into a trance. The awkward silence seemed to stretch on, Cream and Tails apparently too scared to say anything to me and Blaze observing the two gossiping at the door. Silver was still spacing out, or that's what I assumed he was doing.

Eventually Amy and Tikal made their way over to the counter, ordered a couple of ice creams and came over to the table.

'Hey guys,' Amy said. 'This is Tikal, we were friends for ages but we lost contact a while ago, she's here on vacation.'

Tikal smiled shyly at the group. 'Hello everyone, nice to meet you.' Cream moved over for Tikal and Amy to sit at the table, and I realised I was still standing in my state of awkwardness.

'Aren't you going to sit Knux?' asked Tikal with a sweet smile.

'Uh,' I said brilliantly.

Luckily for me, Silver came out of his trance at that moment, and after a quick nod at Blaze, stood up and offered his seat to me. 'I've gotta go outside for a sec, you can sit there if you like,' he said before walking swiftly to the door, which I noticed had been repaired since I slammed it. Oops. I took the chair Silver had just vacated between Blaze and Tails and tried to engage in the conversation. I just wanted to be left alone for a moment yet here I was, trying to be social for the sake of some echidna I had just met. Well that was interesting.

_Sonic_

I sprinted towards the ice cream place as quickly as possible, though now the danger had been averted there didn't really seem much point. Silver had informed me that Knuckles had successfully found someone else, so I didn't have to worry about Shadow and Rouge for the time being. Still, I didn't fancy being in the same room when the four of them saw each other again, so I still intended to find them. I arrived at the shop, where a quick scan inside revealed most of my friends around one table, with the addition of another echidna. That must be Knuckles' fangirl.

I noted Silver getting up and walking towards the door so I headed around the corner out of sight so I could talk to him in peace. He joined me a few moments later and explained the situation in greater detail.

'It's great Knuckles has found Tikal, but I'm a bit worried about him and Rouge's next meeting,' I said apprehensively. 'I for one don't fancy being there.'

Silver merely shrugged. 'I wouldn't worry, Knuckles seems really into this girl, I don't think there's much worry of he and Rouge having a fight or anything. It'll be fine.'

I wasn't convinced- Silver didn't have to put up with Knuckles on team missions- but I decided just to try and forget about it for the time being and focus on having fun. After all, that's why Amy had organised this outing in the first place, not to play matchmaker.

I followed Silver back into the shop and joined my friends at the table. As Silver pulled up another chair I turned to the new girl and said, 'Hi there, you must be Tikal.'

She smiled and nodded. 'Yep, that's me!' Then she turned back to the conversation she was having with Cream and Tails. Bit rude. She seemed to be getting on fine though. Amy looked at me sympathetically.

'Don't worry,' she whispered to me. 'She's not normally like this; she's just getting to know everyone in turn.'

'If you say so' I whispered back. 'Knuckles appears to be being… Social.' It was true, he was having an animated conversation with Blaze, which was strange in itself, but he was also… Laughing… What the heck was going on? Knuckles was usually as serious as Shadow.

'He's trying to impress her,' Amy observed. 'Though I have to say, I don't think he's ever laughed like that before, she must be special.'

'Either that or he's finally got a sense of humour,' I said, deadpan. Then me and Amy both burst out laughing.

Knuckles looked over at us suspiciously and we sobered up fast. When he'd looked away again I muttered to Amy, 'Nope, still as grouchy as ever.' She struggled to keep a straight face and busied herself with eating her ice cream instead.

I smirked and leaned back on my chair. Everything seemed to be going well, everyone was getting on well and no-one was being left out. All was right with the world. For now anyway.

_There will be another chapter up soon. Thank you for reading _

_xoxox_


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